


Metal: Past

by MoonStoneAndStars



Series: Metal [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Marvel Alternative Universe - Freeform, mentions of torture and violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:26:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25555045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonStoneAndStars/pseuds/MoonStoneAndStars
Summary: Khloe Morgan, a young doctor in the verge of changing the fate of medicine, had a major set back when a Norse God by the name Loki decided to attack New York. Once her knowledge fell in the merciless hands of Hydra, there was no chance of returning to a somewhat normal life, not when she had to deal with the Winter Soldier for two years. And even though she had figured a way out of their hands back in 2014, a few years later, in 2017, her mind would be put to torture once more, the demons of her past would never stop chasing her.This storyline takes place in two different times: before Captain America The Winter Soldier, and between Captain America Civil War and Avengers Infinity War. Each timeline is separated in different works - «Metal: Past» and «Metal: Present».In this alternative version, Tony Stark has made ammends with Team Cap, Bucky was pardoned after the whole ordeal with Zemo, the Sokovia Accords were redesigned, Team Cap no longer being considered criminals, but the Government still has an untrustful eye over them.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Metal [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851850
Kudos: 11





	1. The Start

**_April 2012_ **

Khloe Morgan took a small notebook and a pen from her purse. She opened the notebook in the last written page, which contained a list. It was her fourth day of much needed vacations, she had two weeks to refresh her mind before returning to the horrific schedules as a Neurology resident in the hospital. 

The list was clearly needed, Khloe was always so busy in the hospital that she knew that if she didn't have a plan of what to do on her little vacations, she would sit and sleep in the couch the whole day, regretting not having done anything minimally interesting once she went back to the hospital. 

Some of the points were already checked: update Breaking Bad, visit the Twin Towers memorial, clean her apartment, start watching Game of Thrones, visit the Captain America exhibition in the Smithsonian. She checked another one, buy the new Adele's album "21". 

Khloe strolled around the streets of New York without a clear destination, still wondering about the exhibition she had seen the previous day. Most of the visitors were there to discover more and more about the second World War legend, kids excited that a old superhero existed, girly teens and young ladies sighting at the perfection that seemed to be Captain Steve Rogers. Khloe always had a soft spot for heroes, however she expected to discover more about that serum that turned a tiny ill Steve to a super Steve, that was, in fact, a true medical miracle. She loved medical miracles the most. Needless to stay, the exhibition portrayed more Steve's life than the chemical properties of the serum, but the visit was still worth it. 

The young doctor smiled empathically at the thought of how Steve Rogers probably needed a lot of therapy. Even though he was seven decades on ice, for him it was only months ago that he had crashed, not long after he lost his best friend. The Captain probably didn't even had the chance to mourn James Barnes, now he was brought back on a totally different time, all his partners but Peggy Carter gone, and had to engage in a fight with a norse God, Loki, in Berlin. She hoped they had a very good psychiatrist for the hero. 

A weird sound from above shook her of her thoughts. Khloe looked up, at the tall Stark Tower, where a blue beam shot towards the sky. She raised her eyebrows as a weird darker shape formed around the end of the beam and something started coming out from it. Iron Man shot up to the sky. Everyone was staring on the street, stopping their cars and taxis and taking a look at what was happening.

Then the attack began. 

Khloe wasn't sure as how it all began, but the creatures with what seemed to be large bike hoverboards were coming down and shooting at people. Chaos installed on the streets, buildings were on fire and starting to crumble down some of its parts. Khloe ran as fast as she could, helping one or two people on the ground, trying to get away as far as she could. 

She looked up as an aircraft crashed on the street on her right. Captain America, a red head woman and a man, both wearing black, came out of it and made their way to the street, running the opposite side of her. Khloe couldn't stop to admire though, she kept running as far as she could.

She had only been running for a minute when mechanical whirring and a loud growl came from above her. She stopped petrified as the giant metal kind-of-fish flew above her, metal-ish creatures coming out of it and jumping inside the buildings through the windows. 

People started screaming, waking Khloe from her trance, running for her life once again, avoiding the paths that lead to any of the creatures. That was until one of the lateral fins of the big fish crashed through a building, wiping an entire floor right in the middle. The building started collapsing. 

Khloe turned around, the words of the Hippocratic Oath she had taken years before resonating in her head. She ran towards the already collapsed building and started helping people. Some were caught under the debris, others simply in shock. Khloe did her best to guide people out of the danger area and tight some wounds with jackets or shirts. If she ended up surviving, she made a note to herself to create a tiny emergency kit to put on her purse. 

Khloe was helping a young man wearing black out of the debris when more started falling above them. Out of a sudden, everything went black. 

Khloe wasn't sure on how long she was unconscious. When she opened her eyes, she seemed to be under fragments of the building, some sun rays making their way through the slits of the pile of debris. Khloe coughed with the dust and tried to move, which caused an unbearable pain on her right arm. Yelling her lungs out, she looked towards it and noticed the big heavy debris above her forearm and hand. The man that she was previously trying to help woke up with her yell. As he tried to reach to her, trying to calm her down, Khloe closed her eyes, becoming once more unconscious. 

The next time she woke up, Khloe was on a bed on a dark metal room. Her right forearm and hand had no skin, some parts of the flesh were missing, allowing to see right to the muscles, others digged enough to see the bone. Khloe sobbed in panic, her fingers wouldn't even flinch as much as she tried. 

A blonde man in a suit, around his 50s, and another man, bald, wearing a shirt and bowtie entered the room. The bald man injected some fluid onto the IV that she had on her left arm. The blonde one approached her bed, resting a hand over her left shoulder, Khloe noticed the pin with some kind of octopus shape on the suit. The man finally spoke "No need to worry, doctor Morgan." Khloe started closing her eyes, her eyelids weighting too much "You are just being injected a sedative. My name is Alexandre Pierce and we will take care of you now." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed this first chapter!


	2. The Winter Soldier

**_May 2012_ **

Khloe sat on the simple bed of her small room, her elbows resting on her knees, her head hanging low. A light, almost like silver, metal glove embraced her right hand and forearm, up to the elbow, reflecting the light from the fluorescent lamp on the ceiling. She outlined the black star on the wrist with her left index finger.

Suddenly, the door opened. Alexander Pierce entered calmly, another man wearing black that Khloe overheard being called Rumlow stood on the door frame, a rifle on his hands. Khloe straightened her back, watching as Pierce pulled the chair of the desk and sat in front of her. "How does it feel? Are you adapting to the glove?"

Khloe looked to the ground "You can keep it. Please, just let me go home. I won't tell anyone about Hydra, I swear."

"Doctor Morgan, you are aware that they will give you a prosthetic forearm. You won't be able to keep on practicing medicine like that. With our glove, you can. You can work for us for your whole life. You get your arm back, we get a woman with your abilities. It's a win-win for everyone."

Khloe looked into his eyes, anger consuming her "I will never work for you."

Alexander Pierce rose from the chair "You really don't have a choice. You do have a choice, however, in the way we treat you in here," Pierce walked towards the door "Choose wisely."

Rumlow closed the door and an infuriated Khloe collapsed on the bed. Raging tears forced their way out of her eyes as Khloe took the metal glove off her forearm and threw it against the locked door. It had been three weeks ever since the New York attack, ever since her forearm was crushed under a building, ever since she was brought to Hydra. Thanks to the Smithsonian exhibition, she knew exactly who they were. She also had a vague guess of what they wanted her for. Her investigation and the device she had developed during her med school years regarding psychological and neurological control was a two-pointed blade - could either be used for good or evil.

Later that week, Rumlow grabbed Khloe by her arm and dragged her out of her bedroom, the point of his gun resting threateningly on her back. He walked a weak, tired and mentally damaged Khloe through the dark underground corridors until they reached a large lab. Khloe looked around the lab, five men with lab coats were inside, Alexander Pierce stood on the right side of a large tube. Once he noticed the new presence in the lab, Pierce walked towards Khloe, stood by her side and pointed with his head towards the tube "That's who you're going to work with. He comes out of trance after a while and becomes unstable and erratic. We want you to use your device on him, keep him quiet and under control for a longer time."

Khloe looked at the tube, not understanding how could Pierce be talking about someone. Once a lab coat said they were going to start, half a dozen guards approached, pointing their guns to the tube. The tube started ascending, an ice cold cloud coming out of it, making Khloe shiver. The figure of a restrained man wearing black started to appear inside the tube. He had a silver left arm with a red star on the deltoid, wore a black mask covering his mouth and nose, had long brown hair, damp from the cold.

The restraints were released and the man collapsed forward, guards caught him and transferred him to a kind of dentist chair in the middle of the room, where he was once again restrained and the black mask finally taken away. Khloe looked at the clearly tortured man full of pity, the way his empty dead eyes scanned the room, taking a few seconds looking at her.

A knot started forming on her throat, along with a weird feeling on her stomach. She could swear she had seen his face somewhere. His semblance seemed way darker, older, frivolous, but that sharp sculpted jaw, the stunning cold blue eyes from the painting, she could have sworn that was Captain America's best friend. The long hair didn't help and she could swear she heard and read he was the only one who gave his life for the war. James Barnes was supposed to be dead. To be honest, the man standing in front of her seemed to be dead anyway, his empty stare as if his body was just a shell of a man, and whoever used to live inside was either so strongly confined or, indeed, dead. "You're..." her voice stuttered "You're torturing him."

"The Winter Soldier was responsible for more deaths than you can imagine. He does not deserve your compassion, doctor." Rumlow spoke on her ear.

"You are monsters!" Khloe looked at the soldier "I'm not going to do anything to him!" Khloe tried to get free of Rumlow's grasp but it only became tighter. Her voice was filled with rage, coming out as a profound growl "I'm never working for you, you might as well just kill me already or I will do it myself!" Alexander Pierce looked at the doctors and guards standing by the Soldier's side and nodded with his head to the right. Immediately, the restraints were released and the guards held the Winter Soldier close to them, dragging him out of the chair. Khloe looked at the tortured man, raising her voice with despair "Do something, get out of here!"

The Winter Soldier watched emotionless as Rumlow forced Khloe to sit on the chair that was meant to torture him. The woman, who somehow was concerned about him, started flinching when the restraints locked her arms and legs. Her pupils dilated when plaques started descending on her face, her chest rose frantically up and down. The Winter Soldier kept staring emotionless as the young woman screamed for endless seconds, watching her being tortured the way he was supposed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the metal glove that allows Khloe to keep using her arm comes with a terrible price. As you can see, Khloe has a certain device and Hydra wants to get it working on the Asset. More about the device will be discovered in the following chapters! Hope you're enjoying so far!


	3. The First Try

_**May 2012** _

Khloe looked at the file that stood on her desk, «The Winter Soldier» file. It had been given to her three days before, Khloe had no intention to open it. However, once Pierce discovered she hadn't read what she was ordered to, he ordered the guards to put her on the chair. 

Khloe, still numb from the sharp pain of the shair, sat on the side of her bed and reached for the file. Her eyes took a little while to focus the letters on the front page, but once she finally adapted, she opened it. A sepia picture of a young James Barnes on his World War II uniform was attached right on the first page, along with a picture of him on a frozen tube. Khloe rubbed her temples with her left hand and closed the file, throwing it to the end of the bed. 

Masculine yells from outside her room made her look towards the door. It wasn't the first time she was hearing them, and she knew exactly who they belonged to, the Winter Soldier. Or, more specifically, Sargent James Barnes. Khloe wasn't sure who had control over the body, the Soldier or the man. She guessed the man should be long gone by now. 

Khloe looked again to the file, sighed and picked it up. She started reading it and it only took a couple of hours for the young doctor to be aware of all the dreadful things they had done to him, the merciless killing machine Barnes had become, until there was no Barnes left at all. 

A blonde man stormed into her room, without ever knocking or warning he was coming. He seemed about her age, had short blonde hair and grey eyes, and muscles enough to make sure she had no chance in a fight against him. The man smirked when he noticed the opened file on her hands "Good girl, trust me, it's better if you cooperate. When you don't, we have to use the machine and you end up cooperating anyway sooner or later. This spares your mind a bit." The man handed Khloe a lab coat "C'mon, put it on. Time to get to work with him."

Khloe slowly dressed the lab coat and followed the man through the same terrifying path that lead them to the room where the torture chair was. This time, Alexander Pierce wasn't there, only a few guards and scientists. The Soldier was sat on the chair, arms and legs restrained, his furious stare lost in the horizon. His murderous eyes locked on hers for a few seconds, until she decided to look away. 

One of the lab coats approached Khloe and handed her a tablet "We've studied your projects and already inserted a regular and functional MRI of the Soldier's brain onto the software. He is very agitated and aggressive, we want him calmer."

Khloe took the tablet and the triangular metal device the scientist offered her, the device she had been working on for years to try to treat mental illnesses and neurological disorders. Khloe approached the Soldier, who watched her walking towards him as a predator waits for the prey. Khloe placed the device on his left temple and turned on some settings on the tablet, the same scientist always looking over her shoulder. She looked at the Soldier, the way his expression softened slowly, until it was only blank, but not deadly anymore. The man who had brought Khloe to the torture room got closer "Soldier, this is Doctor Morgan, she will be working with you. Do not harm her, unless told to do so. Respect her. Whatever she says, you do."

The Winter Soldier kept his emotionless eyes locked on hers. Khloe looked down at the tablet, trying to suppress the tears from coming down her eyes. She waited a few seconds before looking at the Soldier again "Does it hurt anywhere? Can you hear any buzzing or feel as if someone was poking your head?" the Soldier shook his head no "Alright..." 

"What other emotions or mental states can you induce with your little device, doctor?" the man that had brought her asked. 

"I... hm, the research started for Parkinson's and PTSD, I didn't explore other functions."

"Well, we will have plenty of time for that now." the blonde man smirked at her and looked towards the scientists "Get this woman notebooks, pens, books, tools, anything she needs. We want her device enhanced to its best, and she will guide all the way through the investigation," the man looked at her once again "isn't that right, doctor Morgan?"

Khloe nodded, her head down once again. A scientist took the tablet from her hands, the device still on the Soldier's temple. The Winter Soldier watched as a paper was handed to the young doctor, as her face twitched while she read it - those were the numerous functions she had to create for her device and test on herself before using them on the soldier. For the first time in what seemed to be forever, he felt anything other than pain. The Soldier was actually feeling peaceful, thanks to what the young woman put on his head, he assumed. Once the device was taken of his head, the sense of peacefulness was gone, and he was once again simply empty. 

The doctor was walked out of the room, the man who had come with her spoke to the scientists "He has served his purpose, the device works as we expected. Write the reports, gather new functions for the doctor to create."

"What about the Asset, sir?"

"Put him back on ice." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Khloe tamed the Winter Soldier with her device, but will she be able to control him without it?   
> Hope you're enjoying!


	4. The Man Behind the Soldier

_**January 2013** _

Khloe rested against the back wall of the Winter Soldier's bedroom with her eyes closed. She rubbed the front of her neck, a freshly made choke bruise around it, caused by the Soldier. It wasn't completely his fault, Khloe should have known by now that she should turn on her device first before waking him up, otherwise the Soldier always strangled her. However, he seemed softer with her over time. 

The Winter Soldier, sitting on his bed, looked at her, her device blinking blue on his head, his chest no longer panting up and down from the nightmare. His voice came out raspy and low "Dr. Morgan, I apologize."

Khloe opened her eyes at him "It's alright, Soldier..." Khloe looked over to the guard standing on his door, nodding with her head for him to point his gun down. Suddenly, an alarm blared outside, the guard immediately walked out and locked the door, leaving the doctor and the Asset inside. Khloe looked at him, taking the moment of distraction outside to do something very risky "It has been two months since they took you out of ice. How are you feeling?" The Winter Soldier looked over at her, small lines forming around his eyes, Khloe guessed he was doubting about whether he should trust her or not. Khloe approached him calmly and put down the tablet, sitting in a chair in front of him "There is no one else here and these security breaches usually take some time. Whatever you tell me stays between us, I swear."

"There are these visions," the Soldier started talking slowly, never taking his eyes away of her face, studying every single movement that could denunciate her "a man on a train, reaching for my hand. Then I'm far from the train. Snow, and my left arm bleeding and gone." Khloe nodded, he continued "They come every time I'm out of ice or the machine for a longer time."

"How do you feel about those visions?"

The Soldier hesitated "They are mine but they aren't."

Khloe looked around, making sure they were indeed alone, and sighed "James Buchanan Barnes. Those visions belong to him, not to the Winter Soldier."

The Soldier tilted his head, the last name somewhat familiar "James Buchanan Barnes."

Khloe nodded and picked her tablet. She looked right into his eyes as she showed him a picture of him in his WWII uniform "He was the man before the Winter Soldier."

The Soldier's eyes widened, he rested his metal thumb over his picture "Who was he?"

"Sargent James Barnes, born in 1917, Brooklyn. Served the US army back in the 40's. Fought against the German forces until he was presumed dead in a mission in 1944, after falling of a train."

The Soldier's voice came as a faint desolated whisper "I used to be that man."

After giving him some seconds, Khloe added softly "I think he is still there," he looked at her "All these years they have been trying to break you down, suppressing the man you used to be under layers and layers of emptiness. The longer you stay out of ice, memories start to surge. I will help you figure out more about who you were, but this has to stay only between us. Hydra can't even wonder you have some control. Do you understand?" 

He looked at her freshly bruised neck, the way the mark of his metal hand draw a deadly scarf around her neck "Why are you helping me? I've hurt you." 

"No, not you. The Winter Soldier did, yes, a little. But you, James," he looked deep into her eyes as she pronounced his name with such sweetness, her lips forming a faint smile "you are simply talking to me, you haven't hurt me. I trust you, and I hope you can trust me too," she closed his file on the tablet and changed back to the software "Now that you are calmer, would you like me to turn off the device?"

"No," he replied softly "I like being James with you, doctor Morgan."

"Alright. First, you can call me Khloe," Khloe smiled a little and put her tablet away "and whenever we are both alone, I'll always help you being James and discovering who James is. And I promise you, someday we will be out of this mess."

"You don't like being here?"

Khloe tilted her head and looked to her right metal forearm "Not at all, I'm forced to be here too."

"I thought..." James looked at her metal arm.

"A building collapsed and my arm got stuck. The forearm and hand are still here but I can't move or feel anything, the glove allows me to. They gave me the arm back, I work for them. They forced me to, I mean, didn't have much of a choice."

"How long?"

"I've been here for 8 months now. 8 months without ever seeing the sun." Khloe left out a sarcastic laugh and closed her metal fist and her eyes for a few seconds. A cold rough feeling on her metal hand made her open her eyes and look towards it. James was holding it with his left metal hand, and Khloe could swear there was a hint of sadness in his steel blue eyes, staring deep into her. Khloe rubbed her metal thumb on his, both stood like that for a few seconds until the alarm stopped blaring. Khloe let go of his hand and reached for the tablet "I have to turn this function off. But we will talk again."

Khloe looked at him before touching the screen, her hazel eyes filled with sorrow. James nodded and whispered "Thank you, Khloe."

Some seconds after Khloe touched the screen and her device stopped blinking blue, her eyes were met with the Soldier's cold blue murderous ones, staring blank into her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The journey to discover who James is begins. As long as Khloe keeps him out of the machine, who knows how much of James Buchanan Barnes will the Soldier remember?


	5. The First Dance

**_June 2013_ **

"James Buchanan Barnes, born in 1917, Brooklyn." James mumbled with his eyes closed, the device blinking blue on his head. He slowly opened them and tilted his head. Khloe sat on the other end of his bed, but unlike other times, she wasn't facing him, and her eyes kept stuck on the tablet screen. "Khloe? Are you there?"

Khloe shook her head and looked at him "Sorry, you got me distracted. Yes, James Barnes, 1917, Brooklyn, exactly." her eyes quickly went back to the screen. 

James didn't like it. He felt at peace when Khloe looked at him with sweetness, knowing there was still something pure left in this malevolent world. But now her eyes were glazed and lost, and he could only imagine what Hydra's monsters had done to her. His voice came out harsher than it should "What is wrong with you?" Khloe shrugged with the slight violence on his tone, James got closer and she immediately stepped out of bed, leaving the tablet on the mattress. James went back to his place, giving her a safety space "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Khloe rubbed her temples with both her hands, her back turned on him. She couldn't remember what function she had been tested for, but her mind was a complete mess and she wasn't at all in herself. Everything seemed a threat. She sighed "No need to be sorry."

"You can talk to me."

Khloe dropped her hands slowly and looked at him incredulous, a wave of anger suddenly taking over "What the hell do you want to know about me, hm? What they did to me? I have no freaking clue, James, no clue at all, I could have been abused or killed someone that I don't remember anything from the past three hours. I'm really freaking out."

James got up and walked towards her. With every step he took, Khloe would give two back, fear growing in her eyes. James reached his arms at her before she would hit the wall and hugged her tightly with his flesh arm. She tried to fight it at first, trying to push him over with her fists on his chest, but he didn't even move, his embrace tightened. Then he felt her body relax, her fists still on his chest, her forehead so close to his lips. "I want to know your favorite color."

Khloe squinted her eyes, confused with the question "I think red."

"You don't seem much convinced about it."

Khloe laughed dryly and only for a second. Both her right metal hand and left flesh hand hesitated, as if it felt sinful to touch such a beautiful soul as James with such a horrid thing as a deformed arm covered in metal, and a flesh hand that was no innocent either, since it also had its part in designing programs meant to control him. Her hands opened and pressed gently on his chest, her sensitive metal hand feeling his calm heartbeat, her mind only busy imagining how shiny his clear blue eyes must have been in that moment. Her voice finally came out soft "Blue," she smiled faintly and looked up, the smile disappearing as her eyes focused on his "Yeah, it's blue."

James smiled at her "Blue sounds more like you. The sun or the moon?"

"Moon," she had to lower her head, or else she would have spend her entire life stuck on his eyes.

James slowly swayed with her from one side to another "Do you have a favorite fruit?"

"Hm, I really like grapes. The dark ones, not the green." 

"And what about your family?"

Khloe closed her eyes and her voice was just a whisper "It's just been me for the last 12 years, since I was 15. There was a terrorist attack in New York, a plane flew against the tower where my parents worked. Lived on an institution for 3 years."

James' eyes widened and he carefully wrapped his metal hand around her waist, no longer swaying her. "We will be alright," he kissed her forehead "I'm with you now."

Khloe raised her head once again, her heart warming and racing in ways she hasn't felt since college. She shouldn't be feeling that way, having one of the best assassins in the world holding her. But she never saw the Winter Soldier when she looked at him, she only saw James. And how could she avoid falling in love with the pure soul that was James? "Thank you, James." 

In the moment James smiled at her, she could swear that Heaven wasn't just an utopia. She had fallen for him deeper than the undiscovered depth of the ocean. And of one thing she was absolutely sure: her favorite color was certainly blue. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Six months have passed since Khloe first told the Soldier who he really was. As long as her device is on her head on the right mode, the Winter Soldier stays behind, and James Barnes is the man who faces her. Will she be able to return him to the man he once was?  
> Hope you're enjoying! Feel free to comment, suggest, and even ask anything :)


	6. The Man Behind the Device

**_December 2013_ **

Khloe tried to raise from the ground on the training room, leaning on her right metal forearm. Her whole body shook as the pain on her side stroke her. Khloe whimpered and sucked her lower lip in, feeling the salty taste of fresh blood. She touched her lip with her left hand, her index and middle finger immediately stained with blood. One of Hydra's guards kneeled in front of her and sat her brutally against the wall, immobilizing both her arms "After spending so much time with the Winter Soldier, I can only assume you like it rough."

Khloe's head spun around, her judgement still clouded from the new experiments on her device. The scientists had made her create an program for her device that allowed manipulative hypnosis, and as always, she had been the first subject of the tests. The guard was taking advantage of her numb state, Khloe knew it wasn't right, but her mind was still out of place. She tried to move as far away as she could as the guard ferociously kissed her neck, but the wall and his arms blocked her completely. Her voice struggled to come out strong, all she managed was a weak cry for help "Stop..."

The guard was trying to undress her lab coat when he was kicked to the ground from the side. All he saw was a flash of silver coming down on his face before blacking out.

Guns were unlocked and the Winter Soldier immediately stopped. He got up from the guard he had just hit and looked at the two who were pointing their guns at him. Adams approached and the Soldier spoke "Orders to not harm and respect doctor Morgan."

Adams nodded and looked at her "Morgan, can you get up?" Khloe, slowly regaining her consciousness, leaned against the wall and weakly got up. Adams sighed, annoyed, "Shit, we have to report this to Pierce," he locked his gun on his belt and nodded at the other guard to help him with the wounded guard "Soldier, back to your quarters, escort her.

The Soldier walked with his serious semblance on, knowing the doctor was closely following behind. He opened the door to her room, Khloe entered and wandered to her bed. He entered too and quickly closed the door without making any sound, and helped her sit down on her bed before she could fall. His eyebrows knitted together and his eyes softened "Doctor?"

Khloe looked him in the eyes as he ducked in front of her, focusing on the shiny clear blue iris, her fists fiercely grabbing the covers on the mattress. Once she was finally in herself, she lowered her gaze to the floor "You can go now, Soldier."

The Soldier tilted his head and slowly touched her burst lower lip with his metal thumb. Whatever sentiment flashed through his face, it was too fast for Khloe to realize it. He got up, took some tissues from a shelf and started to gently clean her lip, kneeled in front of her. "It was a really beautiful night today. A bit chilly, but full moon, so bright and so close. Could even hear some cicadas."

Khloe looked at him again. It had become his habit to tell her how was the weather outside every time he went on a mission. However, this one was a first, he was saying it without her device on him. Her voice trembled "James?" The Soldier looked deep into her eyes and tried to reach with his right hand to her cheek. He stopped right before he touched her, fear flashing through both of their eyes "Don't hurt me."

His eyebrows flinched for a second, then he finally managed to caress her cheek. Khloe released a sigh and her lips formed a beautiful exhausted smile as a single tear rolled down her cheek. James cupped her cheek and underlined the cut on her lip with his thumb "They've hurt you."

"You saved me, James." Khloe kept her hands on the mattress, now not holding it as fiercely as before, simply resting. She needed to feel the safety of his embrace "I can't believe you're talking to me for real..." Khloe wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her left hand on his hair and pulling his head towards the crook of her neck. She played with his hair and her metal hand draw circles on his back, he hugged back tightly but sweetly. Her voice came out low and gentle "We're together, we're fine. I'm not leaving you alone. Do you know who you are?"

"My name is James Buchanan Barnes." James' raspy voice resonated on her neck.

"And where are you from?"

"Brooklyn."

"And who are you searching for?"

"Steve. Steve is my mission."

Khloe smiled "He is. He always will be. You find Steve, you find home."

James slowly got apart of her neck and looked at her "I can't let them hurt you, Khloe," he intertwined his metal fingers with hers, his eyes filling with concern, his heart finally feeling something good by itself "It's time we try to get out of this place."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James Barnes has awaken! Will he keep his word, will they be able to escape?   
> The next chapter is the final one of the first part of the "Metal" series!


	7. The Break

**_February 2014_ **

Khloe walked calmly towards the Winter Soldier's room, a drop of sweat running down her temple. She entered the room quietly and closed the door "We have to go. Now," James looked at her and raised an eyebrow "Hurry up James, we don't have much time and my device is not available."

"Khloe, what have you done?"

"I created a security breach. C'mon, it won't take long before they figure it out, we have five minutes."

James placed three pocket knives and the gun on his armor, but then hesitated. He slowly turned to her "Khloe, you need to tell me what's going on so I can protect you."

"I put my device on one of the guards. He has probably shut down the security cameras by now, but once someone realizes what's happening and the alarms turn on, we won't have much time left," Khloe reached her flesh hand for him "Please, James." James eyes wandered from fear to insecurity as he looked at her hand "It's me, Khloe. You are James Buchanan Barnes. And today is the day we get out of here. Do you trust me?"

James held her hand with his flesh one and stepped towards the door "Silently."

Khloe nodded and squeezed his hand before letting it go. They both walked out of the room, James following shortly after her as she guided them to the exit "You'll probably have to... incapacitate some of the guards on the door... I hope that's all we get. It's night time so all we need is to run for a dark alley, then we find our way to SHIELD. They will keep us safe and give us to Steve," Khloe looked over her shoulder, James nodded and Khloe offered him a reassuring smile. Only one more minute and they would be out.

The alarms started blaring loudly on the halls and she gasped, James touched the small of her back "Run."

Both started running, James forcing her to a sharp turn to avoid a hall full of guards. She didn't complain as he started running ahead of her, taking them out of the guards way. He changed their direction a couple of times due to the guards, having no choice but to guide them farther and farther from the exit. Khloe grabbed his wrist as they reached an hall with no exit, he turned to her with a desperate expression "James, it's over," she smiled gently but sadly at him "we won't be able to make it. They are just trying to catch me, it's my device, they don't know about you in the middle of this plan."

"I'm not going to let them kill you," James interrupted before she could continue.

"They will kill me if they figure out what I've been doing with you..." Khloe hesitated and then cupped her hands around his face "You have to shoot me. Right here," Khloe pointed at the left side of her belly, just below her belly button "it won't be too dangerous."

"I'm not shooting you!"

"James, it's our only way. They can't even wonder you are James and not the Soldier. Once I'm healed, I swear I will find a way to get us the hell out of here."

"No, I'm not doing this, Khloe, I'm not hurting you."

Khloe kissed his cheek "You won't. You will never hurt me, James. Remember who you are, okay? James Buchanan Barnes. And Steve, always remember Steve. He is the one you must always return to, the little boy from Brooklyn that used to have newspapers in his shoes, too dumb not to run away from a fight- he is your home, you will find him. This will be over soon, I promise."

"Khloe, I'm not hurting you!"

"I know. But the Winter Soldier is. I'm sorry James." Khloe lowered his forehead against hers, still cupping his cheeks, and whispered in russian the words she had heard too many times before, the words that haunted some of her nightmares, the words that stripped away the man from the body "Longing. Rusted. Seventeen. Daybreak. Furnace. Nine. Benign. Homecoming. One. Freight Car," she slowly let go of his face and stepped back to a safe distance, the tears streaming down her cheeks "Soldat?"

James' body was completely tensed up, and he faced her with the most deadly eyes she had ever seen, an emptiness clouding the perfect light metal blue iris that she loved. His voice was a raspy russian "Ready to comply."

"Shoot me," she whispered. 

Nothing could have prepared Khloe for the shot. Her eyes widened and she fell on her back, hand over the wound. The Winter Soldier stepped towards her, facing her from above, his dead eyes stuck on her wound, but his gun still pointing at her. Khloe closed her eyes, her eyelids weighting too much, but forced them open as she heard guns unlocking around her. The Winter Soldier was being held down as she lost consciousness.

When Khloe woke up, she was once again in the same bed of the dark infirmary where Hydra had took her after the attack in New York, almost two years before. She tried to move her arms, only to realize she was handcuffed on both sides of the bed, the same thing with her legs. As soon as her eyes really accommodated, she noticed Alexander Pierce sitting on her right side "He's not gonna save you, you know? Whatever bond you two created, it's over. Do you know where he is right now? On ice, all thanks to your ridiculous utopia."

Khloe spoke with a weak voice "He will get out of this place."

"No. He is our weapon and always will be. You, on the other hand, you are just a very insignificant pawn," Pierce rose from his chair "I told you that you were the one who decided how we treated you here. You've made your decision very clear."

Khloe went under the mind machine five more times, and then was confined to her room. She never left the room, she knew what they would do to her if she did. And that machine, it had stripped away all her free will. She laid down in bed, trying to recall her mother and father. They were only a blur, and she struggled to remember their middle names. 

It was only two months later, in April, that she heard the terrifying masculine yells once more. Khloe grabbed tighter the pillow on her bed as she heard the long lost pure soldier scream with all the air on his lungs. A tear ran down her cheek. She couldn't go and save him this time.

Little did she know that the reason why he was screaming was the same reason that would set her free four days later. He remembered. His name was Bucky, Sargeant James Barnes. And somehow he knew Steve, the man standing on the bridge _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the end of the first part! The story continues in the next work "Metal: Present" (now published), events taking place in 2017.


End file.
